How to advertise on Bad Friends: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

Spotsnow attributes over $200K in estimated total spend to Shopify, the top advertiser on Bad Friends. The show sells its host-read inventory on a quoted, per-campaign basis rather than off a public rate card, and Spotsnow data shows direct-response reads make up well over 90% of the sponsorships that run here. Shopify alone has run roughly 29 to 34 ads. That mix tells a buyer this is a codes-and-URLs feed, not a branding play. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys.

Why Bad Friends is built for host-read direct response

Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee host it, both veteran touring stand-up comedians and working actors. It sits in comedy, where the read lives inside the bit rather than beside it.

Spotsnow data shows direct-response reads make up well over 90% of what runs on the show. That's the tell for a buyer. When a host reads the offer, the code and the URL come out of his own mouth, so attribution is clean and you can watch a promo code fill up in real time. Spotsnow estimates the show reaches roughly 840,000 listeners, and that figure is an estimate, not an audited count.

The format works here because of how the two hosts talk. The banter is loose and unscripted, and listeners stay in the room through the digressions, which is exactly when the sponsor break lands. A host-read borrows that held attention. The audience isn't waiting for the ad to end. They're still listening to Bobby and Andrew, and the pitch rides on the same trust the rest of the episode runs on.

On influence, Spotsnow puts the Apple Podcasts rating at 4.7 across roughly 12,400 to 14,500 ratings, and the show carries about 1,000,000 Instagram followers. That reach spreads across the feed and social, so a read here echoes past the download.

Who is advertising on Bad Friends

The roster runs deep and blue-chip, heavy on DTC and fintech names that live and die by attribution. Recent buyers include Shopify, Mint Mobile, American Express, Expedia, and DraftKings.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Shopify

Shopify sells the commerce platform small merchants use to build and run online stores. Spotsnow data shows roughly 29 to 34 ads here, with estimated total spend over $200K, all direct-response. A young, mostly male audience full of side hustlers and would-be founders is squarely the person Shopify wants signing up for a trial.

Talkspace

Talkspace runs online therapy over text, audio, and video with licensed clinicians. Spotsnow attributes roughly 15 to 18 ads and estimated total spend over $150K, all direct-response. The hosts talk openly about their own struggles, so a mental-health offer doesn't feel bolted on here. It feels like part of the conversation.

Acorns

Acorns is the micro-investing app that rounds up spare change into diversified portfolios. Spotsnow data shows roughly 11 to 13 ads and estimated total spend over $150K, all direct-response. A middle-income audience new to investing is the exact user Acorns is built for, which is why the read converts on a first-account offer.

An awareness outlier

Not everyone here chases a code. Names like Expedia, Netflix, and Disney+ show up with produced brand spots instead of host reads, proof that an awareness objective can ride the same audience when the goal is recall rather than a click.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why comedy brands cluster here

Look at who buys and a pattern falls out. Shopify, Acorns, Talkspace, Rocket Money, DraftKings, HIMS. These are brands that need a listener to act, and they keep coming back to a comedy feed run by two hosts who've spent years earning a young male audience's trust. That's the whole thesis. Santino and Lee aren't reading a script at you, they're recommending something inside a conversation you already chose to sit through, and a mostly middle-income audience in its twenties and thirties is exactly the cohort opening a first brokerage account, signing up for therapy, or standing up a store. The authority is personal, the mindset is receptive, and the offer converts because it doesn't feel like it interrupted anything.

How your ad could sound

Here's a live host read from the show, a DraftKings spot dropped mid-episode:

DraftKings host read, Bad Friends Ep 286

What to copy: keep the handoff natural so the read starts inside the banter, not after a hard stop. Lead with a personal angle the hosts can actually own, then land a single clean offer with one code and one action. Where these reads slip is the same place most do. The promo code gets buried under a joke, or the call to action stays vague when it should tell the listener exactly what to do next and why now. Give the hosts one line of urgency and one code they can repeat, and the conversion math improves.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format does the work. A host read rides the trust listeners already give the hosts, so the offer lands inside the conversation instead of interrupting it.
2. Host credibility is real. Santino and Lee are working comedians with a 4.7 Apple rating, and their audience treats a recommendation as a recommendation.
3. The audience fits the buyers. A young, mostly male, middle-income US listenership is the exact cohort fintech, DTC, and telehealth brands chase.
4. Repeat buying proves the math. Shopify running roughly 29 to 34 ads doesn't happen unless the reads pay back.

Bad Friends in a nutshell

The listeners skew young and strongly male, concentrated in the US with a solid UK, Canada, and Australia tail, and mostly middle income. The buyers who already run here are fintech, commerce, and telehealth names like Shopify, Acorns, and Talkspace, almost all on host-read direct response. The show sells its inventory on a quoted, per-campaign basis rather than a public rate card. If you're a direct-response brand with a code and a clear offer, this is a fit. If you only want awareness, it can work, but you're buying against the grain.